After 4 Years 11 Months In Jail, Orissa HC Cuts 73-Year-Old’s Five-Year Term In Fatal Quarrel Case To Time Served

Following a quarrel near the bus stand in Kodagadia Laxmi Sahi on 6 March 2021, Gourahari Mahanta assaulted Lipun Mahanta with a sharp-cutting weapon, causing his death.

The Sessions Court convicted him under Section 304 Part I of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), rather than Section 302, and imposed five years’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine.

In this jail appeal, the appellant did not challenge the conviction; the appeal was confined to the sentence.

He had been in custody since 7 March 2021 and had undergone four years and eleven months’ imprisonment.

The trial court had also noted his age, approximately 73 at trial, and absence of criminal antecedents.

Section 304 Part I IPC provides for punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder where the act is done with the intention specified in that provision.

In determining whether further substantive imprisonment is warranted, the Court treated the nature and circumstances of the occurrence, the offender’s age and antecedents, and the period of incarceration already served as relevant considerations.

The judgment identifies no specific precedent as the basis for the appellate court’s sentencing decision.

The conviction was not challenged, so the Court confined its consideration to sentence.

It noted that the offence arose during a quarrel, the trial court had convicted the appellant under Section 304 Part I rather than Section 302 IPC, and the appellant was elderly with no recorded criminal antecedents.

Since he had already served four years and eleven months of the five-year substantive sentence, the Court concluded that further substantive imprisonment was unnecessary to serve the ends of justice.

It directed that the appellant be released forthwith, provided he was not required in another case, and discharged his bail bond.

The appeal was partly allowed.